


wednesday #ffb101

by blueplutoberry



Series: 7 days (a week) [6]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Drabble, Flowers, Gen, Language of Flowers, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 23:14:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28590120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueplutoberry/pseuds/blueplutoberry
Summary: wednesday is for "pastel highlighters, drinking water, group laughter, plucking daisy petals, floral scents, counting down to a birthday, peonies"
Series: 7 days (a week) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2085363
Kudos: 5





	wednesday #ffb101

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, it's my annoying ass again. As always, I've got an inspiration for this series and for this drabble from this [tumblr post](https://esperides.tumblr.com/post/171178953245/tag-your-vibe)
> 
> Enjoy! <33

Flower shop. First day of work. Last intern resigned at the most random time, so Donghyuck starts in the middle of the week. Not that it would be any issue, when right now his only problem is that he knows nothing, because he’s never worked in a flower shop before. However he knows incredibly lots about flowers. Flower language which he learned out of boredom in middle school, how to take care of flowers because he thinks they are the prettiest things in the world and need to be taken care of with particular delicacy: what kind of ground to use to each plant, what kind of fertilizer and how much of it to add, if they need more sun or more shadow. He knows it all, so he’s sure that everything’s going to go well. It doesn’t change the fact that he’s nervous, though. He needs to make a good first impression and he’s not really good at it.

The flower shop is not big, at least the customer part isn't. There are a lot of flowers standing on the shelves, both in pots and in vases. In the back there is a big counter with spreaded paper for packing and the little plastic flowers as well - mainly for kids, but sometimes elders also buy them, when they want something beautiful that they don't need to take care of. The bigger plants grow in the back, that much Donghyuck found out when he was there for the first time during the interview. There is a big plant nursery in the back where the flowers and other plants grow to a desired age, before they can be sold. The bigger plants that can’t fit into a customer's part of the shop are also situated there. On the right there is a smaller room with gardening tools that are used by the staff, and some things such as watering pots, ground or fertilizer that are for sale. It’s more like a gardening shop than a flower shop, honestly.

“Welcome to Bumblebee’s Flower Shop,” he hears as soon as he enters.

“Uhm, hello. My name is Lee Donghyuck, I am a new intern…” Donghyuck answers hesitantly. The man that stands by the counter smiles at him and his eyes change into thin lines.

“Oh, right, hi.” He approaches him, and exchanges his hand in greeting. “My name is Zhong Chenle.” Donghyuck greets him, shaking his hand slightly. “Here, I’ll show you everything.” The other wanted to stop him from that because he already saw the flower shop the first time he was there, but he quickly gave up. It’d be nothing wrong to get to know the environment of one’s work even better.

“Have you worked in the florist before?” Chenle asks when they enter the nursery, and Chenle is guiding him around showing various types of plants. Donghyuck recognizes almost all of them. He shakes his head.

“Never have a chance. But I know a lot about flowers, if you worry about that.” he says quickly, scared that maybe he’s going to get judged for being so inexperienced. Chenle just laughs.

“That’s not what I’m worried about, our boss doesn’t just hire anyone. It’s more about working by the counter, with picky customers, and packing flowers, do you have experience with that?” Donghyuck again shakes his head. That’s what he was worried about when he was on his way to work. He knows a lot about flowers, but he doesn’t know how to arrange them. There are a lot of ways to pick and compose flowers to make beautiful bouquets. He even thought about taking a course, but he never really had time for that.

“Okay, it’s okay. You’ll learn over time. For now you’ll be taking care of pots and the still-growing plants, and maybe later you’ll sample with some clients.”

First part of the day went smoothly, with no big problems. Firstly, Donghyuck was writing with pastel highlights tags with the names of each plant to put them into the pots. And then he was carrying the grown up plants right to the empty shelf next to the entrance, where the clients could easily see them. 

There weren’t many clients there anyway. There are the most in the morning, before the work starts, or when the loved ones are still asleep so one can sneak out and buy them flowers, Chenle informed him. And then there is another wave of clients before dinner time. In the middle of the day there are not many, so Chenle sits down by the little table that is standing in the corner of the customer section and drinks his coffee. 

After a minute, seeing that there won't be any clients any time soon, Donghyuck sits down next to him with his water tumbler and takes a big sip.

“And how’s the work?” Chenle asks. He constantly smiles and his smile is so warm, that no matter how tired Donghyuck is after carrying the heavy pots, he instantly feels energized after seeing that smile.

“Hard.” Chenle nods.

“Yeah, normally there isn’t so much to do, but there is the season change right now.” From summer to autumn. After all, it's almost september. “So we need to put the last summer ones in front, for more people to see it and buy it, otherwise they die without bringing us enough profit.” he takes the last sip of his coffee, and gets up. “But you’ve done a really good job here, I must admit.” he adds, looking around the nursery and on the shelf where the new flowers stand. Donghyuck blushes, because he’s not very good when it comes to compliments, and thanks him.

After 3 pm another worker came - he introduced himself as Jisung Park. It was also a rush hour, so many people came, not many bought anything, but were wandering through racks, looking at flowers as if they see them for the first time, sometimes asking about something and here Donghyuck could shine with his knowledge about the language of flowers. Thanks to him some customers even bought the summer flowers they hadn’t even looked at in the first place.

“I’m really impressed, I tried to learn what each flower means, but man... there are so many of them, and almost all of them means exactly the same.” Jisung leans on the counter and murmurs. Donghyuck laughs at that.

“It’s not that hard. Many flowers that are from one season have similar meaning, for instance spring ones are mostly about love, whereas the others are about friendship, truthfulness or something like that. On the other hand color plays an important factor as well, red means passionate love, while white means innocence.” he starts, getting excited that he can finally talk about this with someone, and that the other part is actually interested. “Tell me what your favourite flower is?”

“I like peonies.”

“Peonies are spring flowers. There are many kinds of them, though, but basically they mean happy marriage and romance.” Jisung stares at him surprised, at which Donghyuck laughs even louder than before. “That’s why they are the best at weddings.” he continues. “Actually, many meanings of flowers came from mythology, the greek one for instance. But I don’t really remember the one about peonies, I guess that there was one, though.”

Their conversation got interrupted by the sound of the door bell, and Chenle’s Welcome to Bumblebee’s Flower Shop, how can I help you? At which both Jisung and Donghyuck get up and enter the customers’ part. 

“I’d like a birthday bouquet,” the woman standing in front of Chenle, starts. She’s looking around looking at flowers, but it seems as if she doesn’t know much about them. “It’s for my partner, we haven't been dating for that long yet, so I wouldn’t like to give them anything overwhelming.” she adds. Chenle nods and turns around, looking for Donghyuck. The intern quickly approaches him.

“Then I am sure, our new worker knows how to help you.” he answers. “Donghyuck, this woman is looking for the perfect birthday bouquet for her partner, what would you suggest?”

“Is their birthday in August?” he asks.

“Actually, in September. This year we’re celebrating a little earlier than normally.”

“In this case I’d propose a mix of pink asters and blue morning glories, not only they are the birth flowers for these born in September, but also mean love and affection toward the given person, so it’s perfect for a partner, and are not being too overpowering at the same time.” Donghyuck walks through racks looking for the flowers. The woman follows behind, being impressed with what she’s just heard.

In the end Chenle arranged a pretty, small bouquet of flowers picked by Donghyuck. And Jisung commented once again how stunned he was by Donghyuck’s knowledge, at which the other only laughed and answered that one day he could teach him something.

During the last hour of his work, when there is almost no one in the shop, the last thing Donghyuck needs to do is sweep up the floor, because there is ground, fallen petals and dried up leaves everywhere.

Under one shelf he finds a broken pot of wither daisies. It must have lied there for some time now, and probably no one had seen it, he thinks. He heard stories about the last intern who was unreliable and wasn’t doing their work properly, so it’s probably their fault.

Donghyuck picks it up carefully, trying not to harm himself with sharp edges, and throws the pot into the rubbish bin. One wither daisy stays in his hand. It’s small, not grown up yet, and if he had found it a few days later he’d probably be able to dry it up and hide in his notebook. But for now it’s too late for that. He plucks the soft, white petals and throws it one by one to the bin, thinking about his birthday, because the woman from before reminded him of his birthday. He always wanted to receive a bouquet of birthday flowers from his significant one.

He’s a June baby.

Rose and Honeysuckle. Love and generosity. Friendship and happiness. Affection and closeness. Being with someone for bad and good, and having someone like that by one’s side. For obvious reasons these flowers are Donghyuck’s favourite. He counts down to his birthday. It’s still a lot, almost 10 months, 45 weeks, about 315 days. He hopes that maybe next year he’ll have someone who would give him such a bouquet. And for some weird reason he feels like his dreams are about to come true.


End file.
